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Patmos Island, Greece...

After the death of John of Patmos, possibly around 100 AD, a number of Early Christian basilicas were erected on Patmos. Among these was a Grand Royal Basilica in honour of Saint John, at the location where the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian stands today.

Early Christian life on Patmos, however, barely survived Arab Muslim raids from the 6th to the 9th century. During this period, the Grand Basilica was destroyed. In the 11th century, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos gave Reverend Father Christodoulos the complete authority over the island of Patmos, as well as the permission to build a monastery on the island. The construction of the monastery started in 1101.

Population was expanded by infusions of Byzantine immigrants fleeing the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and Cretan immigrants fleeing the fall of Candia in 1669.

The island was controlled by the Ottoman Empire for many years, but it enjoyed certain privileges, mostly related to tax-free trade by the monastery as certified by Ottoman imperial documents held in the Library.

In 1912, in connection with the Turco-Italian War, the Italians occupied all the islands of the Dodecanese, including Patmos. The Italians remained there until 1943, when Nazi Germany took over the island.

In 1945, the Germans left and the island of Patmos remained autonomous until 1948, when it, together with the rest of the Dodecanese Islands, joined the independent Greece.

Source: Patmos

Cropped, increased sharpness, applied a slight blur at the top.